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Panasonic revealed as sixth TiVo TV partner

The Panasonic W60A line of smart TVs will be powered by TiVo OS. (Courtesy photo)
The Panasonic W60A line of smart TVs will be powered by TiVo OS. (Courtesy photo)

Panasonic has been revealed as the latest electronic maker to strike a deal with TiVo parent company Xperi to bring TVs to market that are powered by the TiVo streaming operating system.

On Tuesday, Panasonic said its new line-up of ultra-high definition (UHD/4K) LED smart TV models will be “powered by TiVo,” which will help streamers “cut through the clutter of streaming and linear content options” with “unbiased personalization and AI-enabled conversational voice search discovery…[that] delivers fast, highly relevant results and recommendations for an extraordinary user experience.”



The TVs will be sold in the United Kingdom first, and will be offered through Panasonic’s W60A line-up of smart sets. The TVs will include mainstream features like support multi-high dynamic range (HDR10, Dolby Vision, HLG), Dolby Atmos surround sound and a voice-powered remote control — standard staples on most smart TVs these days.

Where the Panasonic W60A line stands unique among the rest is the inclusion of TiVo OS, the content recommendation engine that curates content across “live and on-demand shows and movies from global, regional, and local content providers without the hassle of switching between apps,” Panasonic affirmed in a statement.

“There’s no missing out on the latest trending film or series: It also offers recommendations for discovering new and popular shows across multiple platforms based on your preferences and previous viewing habits.”

Last week, executives at Xperi affirmed the addition of a sixth TV manufacturing partner who was willing to incorporate TiVo OS into their smart sets. The company didn’t refer to the manufacturer by name, only saying they were a Japanese brand. The brand is now known to be Panasonic.

Xperi’s first manufacturing pact occurred more than a year ago, when Vestel agreed to make and ship TVs powered by TiVo OS. Those TVs began selling in the United Kingdom early last year.

On a conference call last week, Xperi CEO Jon Kirschner said the company was actively negotiating with other TV makers for deals that would help it achieve its goal of 2 million smart TVs shipped by the end of the year. Those TVs will be sold in five major European countries and the United States, Kirchner affirmed.

Xperi has been laser-focused on incorporating its TiVo OS into more smart TVs as it works to build out the streaming operating system into one that can compete against Amazon Fire TV Fire TV and Android TV primarily in overseas markets. It has offered little information on how TiVo OS expects to compete in the U.S., where Fire TV and Roku OS are the dominant and more-mature platforms.

TiVo continues to offer a line of its own digital video recorders in the U.S., along with an Android TV dongle called TiVo Stream 4K. While both devices contain elements of TiVo OS, they are different from the operating system, which leverages TiVo’s proprietary content recommendation engine to deliver personalized results to streamers across partner services.

Xperi also ships its TiVo Stream 4K dongle and two other Android TV devices as a white-label solution for pay TV companies that are looking to offer streaming TV gear to their broadband-only customers.

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About the Author:

Matthew Keys

Matthew Keys is a nationally-recognized, award-winning journalist who has covered the business of media, technology, radio and television for more than 11 years. He is the publisher of The Desk and contributes to Know Techie, Digital Content Next and StreamTV Insider. He previously worked for Thomson Reuters, the Walt Disney Company, McNaughton Newspapers and Tribune Broadcasting.
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